One Knight Stands
by Smite Thou Face
Summary: David "Sparks" Clarke is a first year Hogwarts muggleborn student. Straight off the Hogwarts Express and placed into Hufflepuff he can't do spells without setting something on fire. Within his first week he finds makes two "good" friends, Ivory and Scorpius. All we really know for sure is that someone spiked the punch at the first annual Muggle Appreciation Ball.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1.**

They call me Sparks, it's mostly because instead of normal wizards who can control their spells I usually end up setting things on fire instead. As you can probably guess, I'm apart of Hufflepuff.

1st year and muggleborn so I'm basically the lowest of the low on the totem pole of Hogwarts, though I heard that in Native American culture the lowest on the totem pole is actually like the chief and all so maybe I might end up as famous as the well known auror Harry Potter.

Anyway, I guess my story starts in my first Herbology class, with Professor Longbottom (still haven't stopped laughing about that surname). As the last class of my terrible first day I was stressed, at least as stressed as an 12 year old could be. I couldn't count how many times the Slytherins had laughed at me in potions or how terrified I'd been of all the smart Ravenclaws in Defense Against the Dark Arts and how overwhelmingly rowdy all of the Gryffindors were.

I was introverted, and everything about Hogwarts was overwhelming in that perspective as well as every other one, after all I'd only known magic existed for like 2 months now and it still felt like I was in a dream. Or an institution.

The only person I knew was Scorpius Malfoy, most people avoided him like the plague but even as a branded 'muggleborn' I make it a point not to judge people on other people's opinions. We met on the train before he was sorted into Slytherin and so we got to know each other and I liked him, he was actually quite kind for a Slytherin. In fact he was the one who told me about the second Great Wizard War, and he seemed to be a big fan of Harry Potter considering the fact that his father was briefly a Death Eater and apparently had a rivalry with Potter for their 7 years at Hogwarts.

Since the Slytherin took Herbology with Hufflepuff we sat across from each other at the wooden table that was set right in the middle of the greenhouse. Plants were scattered across the worn oak planks that lay perfectly symmetrical. Scorpius smiled from across the table and I smiled back, he was the one who'd started calling me Sparks when we'd walked out of Charms together, after I had made my feather catch on fire with I tried the _Wingardium Leviosa_ charm for the first time.

Professor Longbottom cleared his throat before talking, "Welcome first years, to Herbology. Today we will be learning about the use of Yellow Candervals, a rare herb that grows on the edges of goblin infested forests. Yellow Candervals can be used to heal any kind of non-magical burns, though not useful in duels or any other magic fights it is very helpful in healing potions and other medical applications..."

The flowers looked like pale yellow daffodils, they were very fragile and delicate and they had many unique properties other than healing I learned as Professor Longbottom went on, we learned how to pick them properly and boil them to create a salve. As Professor Longbottom walked around the room he offered advice and compliments to the students, I felt a knot in my stomach as he got closer. I got nervous about stupid things like that, a teacher's approval, you could blame it on my parents or something, they weren't too great which is one of the reason I was so excited to get away by going to Hogwarts, an escape of sorts. Finally the Professor stood over my shoulder, "Very nice Mr. Clarke," he said excitedly, "I love your technique." He moved onto the next student but I felt myself grin because I'd only put a pinch of salt to make the water boil quicker.

I guess I had finally found something I was moderately good at, it was quite fulfilling when I thought about it because it was like suddenly I had actually become a part of Hogwarts, that I had actually become a wizard. That high lasted me all the way through the rest of the class and all the way to the Hufflepuff dorm.

It was located in the same corridor as the kitchen, something that I found very comforting as the house elves were very kind and generous to us Hufflepuffs, I quickly tapped the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff on the barrel two from the bottom and middle of the second row, the prefect specifically told us to do that or else we'd be rained on by barrels worth of vinegar and I was not going to do that to myself. The barrels moved to reveal a slightly uphill passage into the cozy Hufflepuff Commons. It was a nice earthy room with wood furniture and a moving portrait of the first head of house, the ceilings were short but added to the homey feel of it all, and I enjoyed the smell of the mass of green plants scattered around the round room. My first night the beds had been the most amazing thing of all, their quilts and wooden bed frames were elegant and casual at the same time, and the mattresses were soft as clouds. I hadn't got much homework except for in potions, though I wasn't surprised on that one.

I decided to go exploring, though I didn't know anyone except Scorpius and I wasn't really into talking to strangers, a social butterfly was one of the many things I was not. I set my books down in my room and ran back out, only a few people had actually come back to the dorms to set their stuff down so there weren't many people to interact with which was nice.

I walked past the kitchen and through the tall halls of the castle, each one seemed oddly different than the other and everything was unique in its own way. It was a magical place literally and metaphorically and I was starting to love it, even with the rising problem of no wifi.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2.**

By the time I'd had my fill of exploring it was time for dinner in the Great Hall, although the crowds were not too enjoyable the food there was amazeballs, especially the meatballs. Everyone was excited for the first upcoming Muggle Appreciation Ball. Supposedly it was suppose to raise awareness for blood crimes and bullying, I thought it was a load of crap and that headmaster McGonagall was really just the mad partying type.

I sat down randomly at the Hufflepuff table because no one had spoken to me except Scarlet, and she was a prefect so that was obligatory, so you'd be surprised too when a girl just randomly sat beside you. She was cute, with her bouncy purple curls, dyed of course, and her glowing brown eyes. She smelled like raspberries and juniper, and her smile looked more like a smirk.

"Hello," she said simply.

"Hi," I replied, though I didn't see the sound logic of sitting down beside a stranger who could quite possibly be a murderer and saying 'hello'.

"I heard you were muggleborn," she said, in a bored tone that got under my skin even more than the sly comment that accompanied it. "Want to come to, like, the dance with me?"

"Are you asking me because I'm a muggleborn?" I asked her incredulously.

She shrugged, "I guess you're kinda cute, in a chubby way, too."

"Uhm," I didn't know how to put her off and I wasn't going alone or with Scorpius so I just said, "I don't know how to take that, but sure, why not?"

She looked over at me, "like, really?" she asked.

I nodded. "I guess, no one else has said anything to me so you're really my only option other than going stag or with a guy, so yeah, sure."

"Cool, I'm Ivory," she said nonchalantly, though you could see she was happy by the way her eyes lit up in wonder and awe of my awesomeness.

"Sparks." I replied.

And then all the awe left her eyes, probably by my idiotic nickname's hand. We shook hands and she sat by me the rest of the meal, in silence, but none the less. We split ways after dinner and didn't talk till we bumped into each other again in the Hufflepuff commons.

She stared blankly at me, "so."

"Yeah, how are you?"

"Just the same as I was at dinner, gloomy with a side of sadistic personality disorder."

"Cool, that's cool." I replied, though the sentence did raise a few alarms in my clouded brain, it might have been the slight mood changes or the purple hair, but who was I to judge, right?

"Sorry I'm so weird, it just runs in the family." She said.

I nodded, "what family are you from?"

"The long wizard line of Igernogginflan Clan," she said.

"Fun," I replied.

"I didn't really think you were going to come with me, my mom says I can come off strong sometimes, and I don't have, like, any friends." She said quietly, "like, my mom is wrong sometimes too though."

I nodded, "yeah, we may need to work on that if we're going to be friends."

She stared at me, confused, "friends? Us? But I've never had any, like, friends."

"Sure, I don't usually judge people on what other people think, and that includes your mother," I replied.

"Wow, like, that's awesome, thanks so much," she said excitedly, "like, thanks so much Sparks!"

"No problem, Ivory." I replied.

And after that day we were friends, and a little bit more.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

The next weekend I made plans to meet up with Scorpius and Ivory tagged along for fun, we all met up in the courtyard after studying. Our weekends were always spent studying now, and I assumed I'd have to study to graduate considering how terrible at magic I was, I figured I'd make up for it in good grades. Or something like that.

It turns out that my ability to memorize things in herbology led me to be an expert at mixing and creating potions which earned me a bit of respect from Slytherin, who's head of house, Waryn Blaise, taught potions. It made meeting up with Scorpius easier and less embarrassing since no one laughed at me when I walked up anymore.

The courtyard was split up by cliques and couples who'd come on the nice fall days to hang out just like us, though we had a special spot underneath a Moreth Tree. It was nice and shady and in the less populated corner, Ivory and I had found it on Friday when we went exploring together for the first time.

We walked together in sync through the yard, it was good to be around other people, with this many people anything could happen, including a minor panic attack on my part, I guess I was just really afraid of people, maybe, I'd never really thought about it but it makes the most sense.

"So when do you think he'll get here?" Ivory asked, she'd chosen to change into her casual clothes while I stayed in my uniform, minus the robes. They seemed comfortable to me for some reason.

"I don't know, I guess he might be late," I replied, "it's not like I expect him to be precisely on time, I'm not that kind of guy."

We sat there for a few minutes, in silence, though it seemed like Ivory was uncomfortable I quite enjoyed the silence because it gave a sense of calm to the surrounding area. The faint giggles and voices of the other students in the courtyard barely touched our bubble of silence and I thought that was a magnificent thing to witness, I was weird that way.

Scorpius eventually arrived, his swagger undeniably intact. He seemed to shrug off the fact that he was thirty minutes late, but I let him because I didn't want any shortage of friends right now, not in first year at least. Everyone was telling me that first year was when you found your group, the one you stuck with for the rest of your time at Hogwarts, and that no one really left their groups or even let anyone else join them so it seemed that I would have to keep a tight grip on both Scorpius and Ivory.

I waved to him, he walked over quickly. He glanced at Ivory and I introduced them quickly, the awkwardness faded just as quickly and soon enough we were all laughing at Scorpius's many puns and Ivory's stories about her huge family. My mission was complete and my friend group secured, I could feel it now, that it was possible we might be as great as the great trio, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger, and oh what a sight that would be.

Ivory and Scorpius seemed to get along great and I was fine with being around them because they felt like real friends, something I'd never had before.

We talked for about two hours straight before we decided to go to the library because Ivory needed something, she loved reading, anything and everything including textbooks. I suppose that textbooks in the wizarding world were considerably different than the ones I'd grown up on. The library was more or less empty other than a few older students who were goofing off.

Ivory seemed to know where she was going so Scorpius and I trailed behind her like little puppy dogs since neither of us had stepped foot in the library in our first two weeks at Hogwarts.

She found her way to the back of the library where the door to the restricted section was, it was locked tight with chains and locks all the way down. Ivory then whipped out a key from her purse, it was gold and bejeweled she said a few quick words under her breath and put it in the lock, though it didn't seem as though it would fit before it clinked and unlocked right after she slid it in. The chains fell limp to the floor and the door rather magically veered open for us to enter. We walked in behind Ivory, eager to know what she could possibly want from the restricted session.

"What was that key?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"That 'key', was obviously a key." Ivory replied sarcastically. "An enchanted key, but a key none the less."

I grinned and Scorpius blushed. Ivory had all sorts of magical objects she'd brought with her from her home. She had four other enchanted keys like that that would open any door with a minor magical spell. She had a teddy bear that danced and sang without any electronics inside it, it was entirely fascinating. She also had one torch that didn't need batteries and just stayed on by magical power, it was amazing and incredible to me who had never seen anything like it in his life, but to the other students it seemed to be the norm.

Ivory openly pranced through the shelves, her curls bouncing in purplish joy as she found the book she was looking for, she told us to go look around and see if we wanted anything. I went left and Scorpius went right. I walked down one row which was labeled potions, it was filled to the brim with old dusty books that had titles that I couldn't begin to pronounce.

One book stood out to me, it had the title of, _Rarities Of Alvania the Love Goddess_. I picked it up, it was the only book title I could read so I assumed the text shouldn't be much harder. I skipped forward and went straight to the table of contents. It had a whole cast of curious characterized potions, one was called _Red Raven's Tears (A Tonic) ,_ another was named _Orion's Sword (A Poison)_.

I flipped through the pages and each of them had a recipe and diagrams that instructed the creation the different potions and tonics. I skimmed until I came across a title that caught my eye. It looked like some sort of love potion. I'm not really surprised that there's a love potion in here, I mean it's in a book written by a love goddess. But this potion, this one seemed different than any other ones that I've learned of, or even heard about for that matter. This one, this one was odd. There's this rule that says "If any one person is to find out that you have used this potion on someone, not only will you lose the love of that person forever, but you will never find love again". That is one sucky punishment. I feel bad for the poor guy, or girl, that fell to that punishment. I was pretty intrigued by this book so I decided to just stick with it. I'm pretty good with potions so maybe I could practice a couple of these ones. We all found each other a few minute later, Ivory had a stack of musty books in her hands and Scorpius held two that were oddly similar in their gold colored bindings, I assumed they were part of a series of some sorts.

Ivory shook her head at my minuscule one book that was half as long as her shortest. I shrugged and we all quietly snuck out of the library. Ivory locked the door behind us and used a spell to leave it as it was. Hushed by Ivory's continual glare whenever Scorpius occasionally cracked a joke and I started laughing. We made it out by shuffling past the incorporeal ghost librarian, Larry Longtalker, as everyone called him because he always seemed to drawl on about anything. Each of us started giggling by the time we had made it around our first corner, Scorpius started and I was cracking up because he was and Ivory grinned and then let loose in a somewhat adorable snorting laugh that made Scorpius and I laugh louder. We stayed like that till we all couldn't bear to without passing out.

"I can't believe that worked." Scorpius said smiling broadly.

Ivory smirked with that signature eyebrow raise of hers. "Well, like, I know I'm awesome so there's no need to brag about, Scorp."

I laughed, and she looked at me oddly, "Hey, Scorp, now you got a nickname almost as bad as mine."

Scorp laughed, and held his side as he ran out of breath. "I don't know I think Sparks takes the cake for sure."


End file.
